Banality Bites

Cars is gonna suck. The teaser sucked and we all know it. Sure people can defend it saying its just a teaser but thats just holding on the false hope that Pixar is going to turn it from worse to better. So far the worst of the Pixar films is A Bugs Life. Which is not a knock. Even Pixar at their worst is better than others at their best. The film isn't too terrible but its not better than Finding Nemo,Monsters Inc,The Incredibles,Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2. The reason A Bugs Life didn't work and the reason Cars wont is because they deal with two groups people hate. First off people hate bugs and insects. No one ever gets cuddly with a spider or kisses an ant. Bugs are disgusting and people hate them. Our first reaction when we see a fly is to swat it and if its an ant we squash it. Insects are inferior so we destroy them because we can. Secondly people have no emotional connections with machines. Now lets take Cars. Here are the reasons it will go along with A Bugs Life as bad but not so bad.


1) Cars have no emotional attachment with humans. Because a car is a machine. Machines like Bugs are not things people cuddle with. Or what I mean is humans have no connection with them. Machines have an isolating effect on humans. Nobody hugs their computer. Nobody kisses their cell phone. A machine is a tool. Just like a hammer. So unless treated as such the story fails. You can try to make a missile as cute as Nemo but in the end its a missile. It has one purpose to be used by a human which leads me to my next point.

2) No humans populate the world. This is a big mistake. How can you have Cars but no humans? Who built the roads? Who pumps the gas? Other Cars of course. Thats just ludicrous. Imagine Toy Story where its just Toy World. No Humans. Just Toys. It wouldnt work. Cars wont work without Human Beings. Because human beings will watch the movie and find nothing of themselves to relate to. How can the audience which is humans have an emotional connection? Look at Monsters Inc without Boo you lose the child watching. Boo made them relate to entering the Monster world. The best example of a world with cars and humans are those Chevron commercials. Those were clever and feature humans but still failed to get a movie to be released about them because all we saw was the cars. Speaking of releases...

3) Pixar has pushed the release back to be comfortable for all. Now I know usually this means that more time for a project means more time to make it better. I see it as an act of desperation. The film was scheduled to come out November 2005. It will be out June 2006. This is Pixar we are talking about. They have been working on this project for what I can assume is 3-4 years by now. If they have to stop and rework things it has to do with the reaction to the teaser or they feel what they had wasnt good enough and want it to be better. Pixar feels what they've made isnt good enough to be done November 2005. Im sorry to say this and I may be proven wrong. But you cant delay something in hopes for making it better. Lord of the Rings wasnt delayed. Each film had to be out in time for December 2001,2002,2003. Peter Jackson had every reason to ask for more time to make things perfect and there were times when Return of the King was thought to not come out in time for December. But Peter made it. Its not like Pixar said we wont make November we may have to release it a week after or in December 2005. They just pushed it back to a relaxed time for all June 2006. Im sorry but you should never relax on a film. There should always be pressure. People work better under pressure. Dont believe me look at Toy Story 2. Pixar scrapped an idea they had long into production and made what we have now as Toy Story 2.What Pixar didn't do was make excuses and say "Hey America...look we found this amazing Toy Story sequel and the one we've been working on doesnt have Woodys Roundup or Bullseye none of that stuff so were pushing the release to 2000". They didnt do it and they busted their butts to still make the release the studio set. Pixar isn't doing that this time because they think "If we dont need to be rushed or pushed and can settle on June even though we said November then fine." Slow and Steady wins the race right?

4) This film involves Nascar style Racing. Nascar is only watched so cars can blow up. If they dont who cares! Don't hate me for telling the truth. Cars going in circles no matter how fast are boring without collateral damage. Nascar is all about product placement for corporations and driving fast in circles.This does not appeal to kids. In fact this was the part of the teaser most tuned out. The character Lightning Mcqueen is a race car in a world of cars. Very original profession. Why dont they all just race around all day? Oh thats right they have baby cars to take care of and raise. This story is basically hotshot leaves the fast lane and enters an area where he learns theres more to life than winning trophies and racing. Yaaaaaaawwwwnnnn. Thats like saying your a bomb but theres more to life than just exploding. Oh course theres more to life if there was LIFE. But how can show more of life when there is only a world of Cars. Cars aren't alive their machines. They have no lives but to drive from point A to Point B. You need to treat them as the slaves they are. And I do have an idea to help this story. So fear not and keep reading.

Which brings me to final reason this will bomb. Pixar already has a movie in the works for after the Disney Divorce Ratatouille and Disney is opening a 3D Animation Studio to follow Pixar with a Toy Story 3 and the soon in theaters Chicken Little. Both companies really dont wanna be together and want to go off and do their own thing but they have one more baby together which will go into custody of Disney. All the Pixar babies so to speak are owned by Disney. Disney will do whatever they want with the movies meaning SEQUELS TILL THEY CANT SEQUEL NO MORE. But your probably thinking well if they wanted out so quick why the delay in release? Simple. Pixar wants to make the best possible film. Disney wants to make the best possible money. After the teaser and negative reaction Pixar wants to make the story better they feel more time is needed. June fits that slot. After seeing Nemo do so well in the Summer of 2003 money wise than Incredibles Fall of of 2004. Disney realizes there is Shrek type money to be made in June visa v 300 million or more seeing as how its summer and school is out. If Disney and Pixar could have had the movie out June 2005 it would be. But thats not possible. So we gotta wait one more year. So after having read "WHY CARS WILL SUCK." What do I believe is the future of Pixar. I think they have to go solo or else stay with Disney. If they dont go solo. Whats the point? To trade one dictatorship for another? Right now they have power to make their own Dreamworks style place. If they go to Fox, or WB the same problems that happened with Disney will arise. The problems being MONEY. The only way for Pixar to make MONEY is to go solo. That way they get ever cent. This means Box Office and Merchandising. So if Pixar isnt thinking about going solo they may as well just stay with Disney.

Right now Pixar want a George Lucas type deal in which they just want a studio to act as a Distributor. But Pixar needs to ask themselves... Whats it take to get a movie in theaters? The answer: Film Prints and an MPAA rating below R. If you have the money to make film prints and ship em to the theater your film is in theaters. If its not NC-17 or Unrated theaters will accept it and more audiences can get in. What theater would turn down a Pixar film? What Pixar film will ever rate higher than G,PG? Corporations will then pay Pixar for tie ins. Pixar has to decide solo or bust. Bust meaning stay with Disney. But what does this mean? Well by going solo it will mean complete freedom. Freedom is good because Pixar can do whatever they want. But in a way Pixar is now responsible. If their film bombs they will have to have major lay offs. If a Pixar film bombs today then Disney takes the blow since it was their money they invested. If Pixar is independent now its Pixar's money on the line and they end up becoming A CORPORATION. They will have to please their share holders the same way Disney does and have a business mind instead of an artistic one. You cant strike gold forever. Eventually audiences will tire of these cute talking animal 3d films. Especially now with more and more of them coming out from Dreamworks, and Blue Sky. If a Pixar flick bombs they will have to sell out their characters the way Disney does with cheap sequel style DVDS or TV Shows just to make money to support themselves. Right now Pixar may be under Disneys management but they dont have the responsibilities Disney does. They can take 4 years project to project. Heck after Incredibles they could have made a film in 2010 and not lose a sweat. They are in control of when they wanna work. If they go solo. They suddenly have 700 animators to feed. These people need stability. And if Pixar doesnt release a film every year or every two years these animators dont get paid. And if the film sucks and bombs like say Catwoman did. Its bad all over. To have ultimate Freedom one must pay the ultimate price and endure Hardship and Responsibility. Just ask Adam and Eve. In a way Pixar are kids and Disney parents. Kids can leave home and be free of their parents rules "Be Home at certain time. No friends No TV etc... " But now when they live freely they have to get a job and pay for their homes and be responsible. Pixar feels grown up and is tired of dealing with its Parents Disney and want bigger allowances and less strict rules or theyre moving out. You get the analogy. In the end those who fight monsters should be careful not to become them. Pixar will eventually be a Disney one day and then they'll have the theme parks and all that jazz then some small little company will come out of nowhere and save their butt and the same thing will happen. Its the circle of life. They should learn from Disney and get off their high horse because they have had a hot streak. Selling out and cashing in go hand in hand. Disney thinks money is essential to a company Pixar says its story. Neither are wrong. Lots of Money is needed but its nothing without a good story to invest in. Both are too stupid to see they need each other. I vote that Disney and Pixar stay together even with the way things are now. Let Disney worry about the money side of things and Pixar worry about the story. Its been working since 1995 and it seems in 2006 is when it wont because Pixar has worried about the wrong things. (Money) When they need to worry about their side of things and telling stories.

Their next story about talking cars in a world without humans has potential to be a bad movie.The best it can hope for is to be entertaining and have some kids like it and adults not hate it but not really love it. It wont be a masterpiece like Finding Nemo but like A Bugs Life it will be an enjoyable two hours even though it doesnt measure up to the prior great films. How can I make such a claim? Am I psychic? No. But as fan of Disney and a huge fan of Pixar I place them on a pedestal. It may seem like I want Cars to suck but I dont. If I did I'd sit back and do nothing. By writing this I am doing something. It may seem that I dont understand why Pixar wants to leave Disney because I'm an outsider, but sometimes you have to stand back and look at things on the outside to see things clearer than if you were standing on the in. A world where cars have cartoon eyes and no humans driving them just feels wrong and uninspired. It feels like something a competitor would do but not Pixar. Not the company that gave me Toy Story. A story where even though the toys were alive they had rules to adhere to. They dont talk with humans or walk around like their humans.They know they are toys. You dont see Prospector start a website or open a business. He's a toy and he knows it. Granted he has intelligence he knows he cant change what he is. All toys want is to be loved and played with and as a human being we can relate with that. We can relate with emotions like jealousy or wanting to be loved the most. In A Bugs Life while Flik does make a point about who the weaker species is, he still cant change Nature. He is still a small bug and other grasshoppers will come along. Its a classic happy ending. Its like leaving a Dictator to form your own colony and fade to black. The problem is how do you stay free of dictators. Eventually other grasshopper will take over its a circle of life and Bugs Life just ends with if things suck change them and they'll never suck again. How does Flik plan to stop future grasshoppers unless he can adopt Hoppers methods of squashing them? Eventually war must happen and the Bird wont always be around to save him. I know I may have gotten off topic but at least Toy Story 2 makes mention to the fact that one day Andy will grow up and leave Woody. It doesnt end with everything is always gonna be happy like this with Andy forever and ever. The Toys except their fate. In Finding Nemo Marlin asks Dori "How do you know something bad isnt gonna happen." To which Dori says "I dont." Then Marlin lets go. This shows Marlin accepting that bad things may or may not happen regardless and he needs to calm down. It may end happy but that doesnt mean humans wont return to the reef or Barracudas. Marlin chooses not to focus on that fear to keep him prisoner. Sure I may be reading into these film endings to much since Monsters Inc and Incredibles have "happy endings" like Bugs life. But Pixar is a company that wants to push the limits of storytelling. I dont deny that Lasseter and his team arent trying to make the best film possible given the bad climate. But they need to ask themselves. What is this story saying to an audience? And I may be jumping the gun on Cars saying how its a fame cant buy happiness type story but Pixar has made no change and it's still a film where the hot shot Car takes a turn on Route 66 and finds out what hes been missing in his life.

But what if Pixar changed the story from something trite and cliche to something unexpected? A film where Humans do inhabit the world. Where Lightning Mcqueen adheres to the rules of such a world. Where he sees how all the other Cars on the track are machines at the mercy of the humans. Where he realizes car races are determined not by the hardware but by the Drivers? Man is god in his world. Man is creator. Here is my idea.

We open on a race with Lightning Mcqueen and he knows hes got the ability to be the fastest car on the track. He knows he is the fastest and he wants to prove it. He wants the trophy so bad. More than anything in his life. But its not up to him. It's up to his driver. His driver Steve is fixed. Paid off to lose the race to a car named Lucky Dan. Lucky Dan always wins because hes so lucky. Wrong. Because the other drivers let him cuz their fixed too. The cars have no say in this even though they can speak and think they don't question it and they dont talk with the humans. Its the order of things. No need in getting worked up about it Lucky Dan always gets lucky in the end. Just shut up and go along for the ride. Lightning has to accept it as well until one day he sees an advertisement on the Jumbo Tron. It's about this Hybrid car that can speak and drive all by itself! Thats right NO DRIVER! It uses a computer navigation system and its going to be at this Auto Museum on Sunday only. The directions cant be heard because the crowd gets louder and the engines rev. The race starts but Lightning notices the advertisement features a map with ROUTE 66 on it.The race starts and on the final lap his wheels swerve out of control and he crashes. The race ends Lucky Dan wins again. But Lightning doesnt care. Nor does he care that he's all banged up. He's gotta see this Hybrid car and talk to it. He's gotta get himself a computer navigation system. Could it really be true a car with NO DRIVER! He's got one chance to find out and its this Sunday. But where? The advertisement said an Auto Museum near ROUTE 66. Lightning so excited forgets how can he get there? He cant drive himself. His driver Steve sure wont. How? How? How? Suddenly Lightning is hooked up to this Tow car. (The tow car that had the bumble bee hit his eye.) He's driven off the track and taken to a Local Mechanic's Shop. The Mechanic tells Steve he'll have to order the parts special and he'll have to leave the car in the shop over the weekend. This is great news for Lightning now he has time to scheme but wait....He is lifted off the ground. No No! No! This is all wrong! He's stuck on a conveyor belt. He'll be stuck on this thing till the parts come back. He's doomed. But at the same time a young boy named Rodney Steele...Rod for short comes in late for work. Rod is a little bit older than Dash from Incredibles. He helps his Uncle around the shop on weekends. He loves to be around cars and wants to be a racer some day too. If only he could afford a race car and had a drivers license. But at his age he can't get one. Though that doesnt deter him from driving. The Tow truck tells Lightning that he'd better watch out for "Ol Steal Rod" he sometimes takes out cars to drive when his Uncle leaves the shop. He himself has been stolen on occasion for a quick drive. Lightning then gets an idea. He may be risking it but he can get Rodney to drive him to the Museum. It's worth a shot even if he has to expose himself. After Rods Uncle leaves he goes for it. Rod stays behind while a thunderstorm brews. Lightning starts to make noises which scare Rod. Rod hears this voice and wonders where its coming from. Lightning tells him to look up and Rod screams. THE CAR IS TALKING! IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE! Lightning tells the boy not to worry it's ok. He was brought to life by the uhhh lightning storm! Just like Frankenstein. (Which is what Rod happens to be watching on the TV) He's here to punish Rod for stealing those cars without his Uncles consent!...Rod is terrified! He's sorry....dont punish him. Well that all depends...He must do a good deed. Anything! Anything! He must take this car too a Museum near Route 66 on SUNDAY!......Which museum?....Um err I dunno THE ONE NEAR ROUTE 66 SHOWCASING THE NEW HYBRID CAR OR ELSE!...Or else what? ...OR ELSE I'LL TELL THE POLICE YOU STOLE THOSE CARS AND YOU'LL SPEND THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN PRISON.... Rod is convinced. Rod lowers the car and gets inside but notices its stick shift. He cant drive stick shift! A funny gag ensues of him trying to teach Rod to drive stick shift and leave the shop but he cant... Both decide its better if Rod drives manual. But then how will Rod take Lightning along with him?...They look over at the Tow Truck. Rod then steals the tow truck and Lightning is hooked on..... They set off onto Route 66...

Thats all I will say so far about the story. Though I do have it all in my head as to when they get to the Museum and meet the Hybrid. Now some background. I am not a screenwriter living in Hollywood. I'm a Pixar fan and I happen to be 19 years old living in Hialeah Florida. I have attended Magic Kingdom more times than I can count and have been sick to death of Disneyworld but I still love it because it was my childhood. I'm a fan nothing more nothing less. I love Pixar and would love it if whoever is working there would look through all the negative I said and realize it was harsh criticism and not cynicism. I want Cars to be the best film it can be and from the reaction I noticed in theaters and online people feel its gonna suck. I felt it too. This all began as a column I wrote for myself and thought of putting up on IMDB. But I knew no one would care or read a super long post from some kid that was basically bashing the number one studio in the world. Who the hell am I to tell Pixar what they should and should not do? Who am I to say what works and will not work? As of this moment I dont exist except on paper. I'm not some ex disgruntled employee or even some producer behind the scenes at Disney trying to stir up shit. I am a 19 year old boy who loves movies. I am proposing that if you can you will get my story idea to the powers that be. Not because I want it or because I took the time to write this but because it feels right. I know It sounds egotistical to tell a multi billion dollar company with a slew of Oscars who they should listen to. But you should listen to me. I believe in my Cars story and I believe in Pixar. I know what I'm proposing is ludicrous. Redesign the current film for June 9 2006 on some fan's idea? But it's not impossible. I still dont know what it is you guys have done till now and all I know is what I can ascertain from your website and the teaser. I still kept Lightning Mcqueen and the Tow Truck. Those dont need to be reanimated just bring the actors back in for some new dialogue and quickly touch up some animations. The boy Rod Steele is basically Dash in a sense. Just needs a new updated design and voice actor. Any other humans or cars can be taken from what you've worked on now. Route 66 is still in tact and as it stands nothing is set in stone. All thats changed really is the story. With some new additions. Its not going to be a piece of cake but it is possible to have the story of Lightning Mcqueen the car on a journey through Route 66 to find out about a car that requires no driver with the help of a Tow Truck and a young boy named Rodney "Rod" Steele who drives him. There will be many dangers along the way and many obstacles and all three will be changed by the end but I can guarantee you it's a journey worth taking. It's a story worth telling. And I hope my story is worth telling too. The story of a boy who sent a letter to Pixar with no ultimatums or threats but with honesty and sincerity. I didn't come to bash but to offer an idea and a reason as to whats going on and how I can help. I said before talking cars wont work but with my story they do and with yours they dont because the cars aren't meant to be just humans as cars but machines with intelligence and desire. The Lightning in my story cant be anything but what man wants him to be. He'll make us feel guilty when we drive our cars as to "I wonder how my car would feel." Look at the difference between Shark Tale and Finding Nemo.Which one is the masterpiece. The one where fish have cities and news reporters or the one where a father fish has a lost son in a vast sea of peril? With your story cars watch other cars race instead of just racing. Cars build other cars and everything is as it is like human beings. I find that hard for people to believe, Granted the fact the car is talking period is already a suspension of belief but that in itself is the what if part. What if Cars could talk and we as humans didn't know? Its the same concept as Toy Story except what seperates toys from cars is free will. Woody can move around and walk without Andy.

A car without a driver is a paperweight. And a character without a desire is useless. What would a Car desire? What does Lightning desire? To have free will. Why? So he can be the fastest car when he wants whenever he wants. He doesnt want free will so he can drive around the country and see the sights. He just wants to beat Lucky Dan in a race because he knows he can. And I wanted to send this letter because I know I can. I dont need to be rich and famous or have a degree in film to exchange ideas or give opinions to Pixar or any studio. You may have the right not to read or listen to what I or others say but I have a right to talk and exchange ideas. And even if you dont read this letter or if you do and you laugh your butt off at all the run on sentences or the great length I went to talk about something you think I dont have a clue about I'll know next June 9, 2006 when I pay my ticket for Cars of the Cars movie that could have been. I'll know that when audiences come out and say "Eh that wasn't as good as their other ones but it was still cute" I can say... "Well I had an idea for Cars that I sent to Pixar." And they say "Oh what was it..." I'll be able to tell them exactly what was said here in this letter. I want to thank whoever had the burden of opening and reading this and the burden of having the choice to either pass this information along with someone else or throw it straight in the garbage. Your decision no matter what the outcome and time spent will be greatly appreciated by me forever. So to whoever you are thank you and goodbye.

P.S.As I lied in bed. I started thinking about what the hell I just wrote. Out of all those words I wrote above it still feels like it all lead to one word. No. That’s basically what that entire thing was. A very devious insane way of asking for something without really asking. Trying to manipulate or lure you in without actually ever saying why the hell it is I even sent this thing in the first place. So the question I’m asking is will you make my version of Cars the one we can see next June 9? I gotta tell you no sounds great. In fact no is much easier on my life and yours. Its easier for everyone for no. But no isn’t the word. It’s yes. Yes is the word and we know it. It’s why I came back and typed this. I’m not your typical nineteen year old. I don’t always work best with direct approaches. I always feel if I say a lot of things people will know what it is I’m trying to say but in reality they don’t know what I’m talking about. So this is the Red portion. I say Red because I feel like Red. The character from Shawshank Redemption who spent almost 30 years I believe in Shawshank and was constantly rejected from parole except for when he spoke from the heart. I think that’s what I’m doing now. From the heart. Why am I doing this? Well I guess the first is I’m not normal. Im certifiably insane. I’d have to be to send a letter like the one above and expect anything at all. The best response you can do with the letter above is trash it. It’s an eloquently thought provoking though very confusing letter written in bitterness and angst from a young teenager unsure of how to get a reaction from a world I don’t understand. I still don’t understand how it is I’ve managed to stay under the radar for so long. Or why it is I’m up at 6:10 AM writing a letter to Pixar asking them to trash years of work on a movie set to be released one year from today so they can do essentially what is my story. I’m not stupid. I’m a kid and I don’t know anything about Pixar. I don’t know the animators or the people. I’ve never been to L.A. and obviously how to pitch a movie. But I know this movie feels like it’s not all there. It just feels like something is missing. Believe you me I never thought I’d be writing this. I’m the last person to come to for sane advice but if theres anything I can say its please take the story I wrote and please do the work to release it in a year. It just feels right. Now a part of me would love to be involved in the process and work on it with you guys. I feel I’m ready in my head but on paper I’ve got zero qualifications. The only directing I managed to do was for a high school project named Beowulf that was 15 minutes. I've yet to write an actual screenplay and I'm not involved in any unions. I’m good at slinging some bullshit and I can say without ego I like my stories. But your stories. Your stories are timeless. I remember when Incredibles came out I lied to a friend and said I saw it when I hadn’t. He asked me what I thought. I said it was ok. Then later I actually went alone to see it which is the worst experience going to an all family film alone everyone in big groups but I wanted to see the film. Man I just couldn’t help but eat crow. I felt like crap for telling my friend it was ok when it was anything but. Today films are so easy to just pass off as mediocre. Not full of surprises. But The Incredibles was just magical. I thought the animation was light years ahead of what other people were doing and the story was just spectacular. The characters felt right but the only problem I had was with Boundin and Cars. Boundin didn’t satisfy me the way For the Birds did but I didn’t really dwell on that but after I saw the Cars trailer I was very disappointed. Extremely disappointed! It felt just so not Pixar you know? It felt mediocre and uninspired. The Green Day music! Ugh! It was as if my favorite studio my refuge from a world of blockbusters and soulless features was making a film you would forget about the minute you leave the theater. It felt as if Pixar had just become…average. Never before have I been so let down by a teaser and I hated the Finding Nemo teaser but loved Finding Nemo. So I was expecting the same thing here. But I just feel that I’m right. That machines like bugs don’t work no matter how cute. And that’s ok. I know John loves cars and toys and that the film you have at the moment can be filled with great moments and inspiring characters but then why the delay? Somethings stinks and I think Pixar knows it too. If everything was gravy this would be out in November and I think it’s a cry for help. I’m not a very religious person and I'm not a believer in fate and what not but I think this is THE cars story that needs to be on screen. It’s not even about me. If you want you can take my story and so not credit me I can’t even begin to not care. It’s your characters I just added Rod. I can’t sue or take action heck you could even use this letter against me and claim I have temporary insanity or something. But just to know I made a difference. A change. I contributed to something bigger than myself. That’s a feeling I look forward too. At this age I know it’ll be a long time before the stories locked in my dreams can ever get out. It’ll be a long time before people just understand me and realize I belong but this isn’t about me. This is about Cars. This has always been about Cars. It’s the reason I wrote this. I wrote this because I care. I wrote this because I wondered if it’s possible for a fan to really make a difference before the damage is done and not after. Or sure it’s easy to kick a movie down after its done and offer suggestions as to what they would have done to make it better. But that’s useless talk. I need to talk now. Now when it matters. When no one else will. I need to intervene now. Because I’ve seen it all before. When something I love (Star Wars,WWF,Disney) just loses its way. I can’t say what you should do about Disney because that’s not my place. I haven’t lived there but I know what will happen if you leave. Disney out of desperation as well as public outcry will ask for sequels and we’ll get them. They will be un imaginitave and talentless. Oh sure adults will know it’s because Pixar didn’t do them. But what of the kids? They don’t see the politics behind Pixar up there on screen they see there heroes. Woody,Buzz,Sulley,Mike,Mr.Incredible. They care now and they believe. Imagine a world without Toy Story 2 from Pixar. That’s whats going to happen with Toy Story 3. I mean come on Woody in Taiwain? Why the hell would Woody ever go to Taiwan? A nationwide search to find a Woody doll to re manufacture him? That’s like asking for someone to turn in a Tickle Me Elmo Toy it just wont happen because the toy line would update Woody because kids don’t know what the Woody from Woody’s roundup looked like nor care. They’d have a new design and that’d be the end. A smart person would know this. Disney they see it as a great way to get the Toys out on another adventure. They don’t see the soul is with Andy and Woody. That even though its not said I know Woody was Andy’s father’s favorite toy passed down. It’s a connection to his father who we never hear about in the films. It’s a connection Disney doesn’t care about. They care about money and not because they’re evil but because the sad thing is it’s the only thing they know. They used to know what your company knows now. What are really important were the stories they told and the characters they brought us. But they lost their way. They went the cheap route for money and said they had to be responsible to their people. They didn’t have fans like me reminding them we still care enough to give them a good kick in the nuts every now and again. It makes me so angry as a fan to know the only way I can contribute is with money. Like I’m not apart of this wonderful process and it ends with me just paying for a happy meal and a dvd. I should be able to express myself like now and say "Hey guys do this with Cars see if it’ll work." Help the company succeed not with my money but with my ideas. It’s so easy to want to see Pixar fail with Cars. It would prove the mighty animation studio is indeed fallible and they too are human and make bad pictures. But I don’t want that. I want Cars to be the best film it can be and if I didn’t think my story was remotely possible I’d never have sent it. If this idea is bad then you have nothing to worry about it will fall away and a good idea will surface. But the bad idea would be to deny it based on where it came from. Just because I am not employed at Pixar doesn’t mean you can’t take my idea. I understand why you wouldn’t want to. I mean if word got out it would look like Pixar wasn’t smart enough to make this film on their own and they needed some fan to tell them what they were doing wrong. Blah Blah Blah. I’m not that type of fan. In other words I’m not a fan trying to blow out your creative flame but to add more wood to the fire and keep it burning. Don’t let foolish pride ruin what could essentially be a great idea. If you don’t care about me for god sakes please pass my idea along. I made the mistake of not being honest but I am honest now. I believe this idea is great. I see such possibilities in it and I hope you can too. I hope it can be the film I go pay a ticket to watch on June 9, 2006 and if its not I hope it can inspire another idea just as great just so I can say oh my god wow I had a hand in this. I mattered in the eyes of Pixar and they actually cared about other peoples ideas even if they were sent in via a letter and not in house. Burn this, keep it as ammunition against me I don’t care but please pass my idea along at least just do me that. Lie and say it was your own. Just say hey John Lasseter what about this for the Cars story… and whatever reaction it has with him positive or negative will be fine. But please give the idea that much. Give it a chance to prove itself. They way you guys have proven yourselves time and time again that you’re the greatest creative studio working now in the world. Once again thank you for reading... REYNEL MARTINEZ